Spain's finance minister: Spain close to overcoming crisis

The Spanish Minister of Finance Cristobal Montoro said that Spain is close to overcoming the economic crisis the country is suffering since 2008, local media reported on Monday. Montoro made this statement at the opening of the courses organized by the Association of Journalists of Economic Information (Apie) and the University Menendez Pelayo in Madrid. Montoro pointed out that the state revenue might have increased by 2 percent in May in comparison with April's figure, while affirming that the second quarter of 2013 could be "a turning point for the Spanish economy." "We cannot talk about the end of the crisis while employment is being destroyed", he said, but insisted: "we are very close to the end." During his speech Montoro emphasized the fact that Spain made one of the hardest adjustments in Europe, only behind those of Greece. Montoro stated that structural reforms will go on such as that of the public administration while pointing out that the government will not increase taxes on hydrocarbons but on goods and services producing negative externalities. At the same time, the president of Spain's second-largest bank BBVA, Francisco Gonzalez said Spain "is at the beginning of the end of the crisis" thanks to the measures the government implemented. In his opinion these measures were "indispensable" in order to achieve fiscal consolidation and carry out the restructuration of the Spanish financial system, although he stated there are still things to be done. Meanwhile, the Bank of Spain published new data about the debt of the Spanish administration (central, regional and local) that decreased from 88.2 percent of Spain's GDP in the first quarter of 2013 to 87.3 percent of the country's GDP in April..